Oklahoma proposed a bill to end state government involvement in marriage licenses. The proposed bill has the left going nuts.
In October, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the overturning of the Oklahoma “same-sex” marriage ban, ruling that it was unconstitutional to ban same-sex unions, although the Tenth Amendment specifically states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
There is no amendment on marriage and there is no mention of marriage in the Constitution, granting the power to the states and the people. Seventy percent of Oklahomans voted to approve the definition of marriage, but it was challenged in 2004 by a lesbian couple, and it took until 2014 to fully overturn it.
Therefore, since the Supreme Court wanted to unconstitutionally rule that a definition of marriage by the states was unconstitutional, the legislators have proposed a new bill, taking the state out of marriage. State Representative Todd Russ proposed House Bill 1125 to take the power from the state courts to grant marriage licenses. This would mean that religious authorities would have to sign off on marriages as opposed to a county judge or justice of the peace.
“It doesn’t put the county officials into the business of condoning it or approving it or licensing it,” said Rep. Russ. (KSWO)
The proposed bill has the left-wing and progressives going nuts. The bill passed easily in the Oklahoma House on March 13th and immediately drew the criticism from the LGBT community, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, Freedom From Religion Foundation, and various other progressive groups.
They have asserted that it fully bans gay marriage. Some are saying that it bans atheists from getting married. Some are saying because the wording originally said “signed off by a preacher, minister, priest, rabbi, or ecclesiastical dignitary” that it bans Muslims from getting married. Some are even attacking the words of one of the signers of the bill.
“Marriage was not instituted by government. It was instituted by God. There is no reason for Oklahoma or any state to be involved in marriage,” said one of the bill’s Republican supporters Rep. Dennis Johnson. (Independant)
Branding it the “Marriage Chaos Bill,” they have tried to attack every aspect of the bill to try to say how unconstitutional it is. They feel it is in violation of the First Amendment in that clergy, no matter which religion, have to sign off on the actual marriage certificate. The LGBT community is taking it as an all out assault on same-sex marriage and claiming that even the people voting for it were confused. It passed overwhelmingly at a 67-24 vote, sending it to the Oklahoma Senate.
“I had one of the most anti-LGBT [state] legislators walk up to me and say ‘I don’t know if I’m voting for you or against you or what.’” Troy Stevenson, head of the LGBT advocacy group Freedom Oklahoma, said. (Think Progress)
The trouble is there is no basis for their claim. Any religious affiliation can sign off on the marriage certificates in Oklahoma. As long as they are legally ordained by the state, they can perform the marriage ceremony. It doesn’t matter if it is a Buddhist monk, an Imam, a Hindu priestess, a Wiccan leader, or even an ordained Atheist, and yes, there is a First Church of Atheists. It doesn’t ban any marriage. The court clerk files the certificate just the same as they do now so that you can pay your marriage penalty to the IRS.
As far as the uproar from the Freedom From Religion Foundation and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, it does not ban Atheists from getting married. There are two ways that atheists can be legally married under this bill. The first one is for their marriage to be performed by an ordained Atheist minister, or what ever they want to call themselves. There are even services to become ordained free from the First Church of Atheists. Though many find Atheist “churches” to be somewhat unconventional and an oxymoron, they still exist. They have social gatherings and “readings” from literary works with their coffee every Sunday and are recognized as a religion.
The second way involves a new act in the law recognizing common law marriage in the state.
“They don’t have a spiritual basis for a marriage and don’t want to have a clergy member or a priest or someone involved in the spiritual aspect, then they can file an affidavit of common-law marriage,” explained Rep. Russ. (KSWO)
Oklahoma law currently recognizes common-law marriages where there is cohabitation, coupled with evidence of an intent to act as married, and representing themselves to others as a married couple. While the bill would have to address how to formally recognize common-law marriage, it is still an option and the parties after a certain time of cohabitation still have to go through a divorce to leave that “marriage.” They can still pay the IRS marriage penalty and put themselves on each other’s insurance just as if they were legally married. The difference is that they don’t have the formal ceremony or the certificate.
What it does do is it takes the state out of marriage. It allows the religious leaders to perform the ceremonies in accordance to their religion with no restrictions or telling anyone that doesn’t believe in same-sex unions that they have to perform the ceremony. It also returns the power of marriage to the people, not controlled by the state.
Marriage traditionally was never meant to be a government contract controlled by the states and federal government. This is one step closer to getting the government out of marriage. It is returning it to the religious institution it was meant to be instead of a government contract. You would think everyone would agree that is a good thing.
News Source: Huffington Post